Mortal Gifts
by daisydol
Summary: Angel has a dragon to fight and when the dust settles, he's left with unexpected results. This is how I wanted the show to end. Buffy/Angel. M for later chapter romance. R&R please!
1. Shanshu

**I have a lot of favorites when it comes to television and movies but, I must admit, there is a special, frilly pink umbrella award in my heart for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm sure this subject has been well explored by all of the amazing writers on this site, but here is my take on something I felt should have happened when Angel wrapped. **

**Note: I am a die hard Buffy and Angel devotee. No disrespect for those who love Buffy/Spike or Angel/Cordy. Those were great romances, but for me, it's still all about Buffy/Angel. I haven't read the comics, so this is just my take based on content from the shows only. **

**Takes place after Not Fade Away with numerous references to I Will Remember You from season one. I own nothing relating to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or any other entity in the Whedonverse. **

Angel dropped to his knees, his body wracked with exhaustion. It had started to rain, the drops mixing with the blood and grime in the alley until it began to pool up in sickening puddles around the team. Spike stood off to Angel's left, his eyes already swelling shut in his beaten and bloody face. He looked worse than Angel felt, but Angel still insisted he stay back.

He wasn't kidding when he'd said the dragon was his.

Illyria sat cradling an unconscious, maybe dead, Gunn in her arms. Her expression was the same as it always was, casually detached and emotionless, yet she hugged the fallen member of the team protectively to her body as if he were her child. Maybe it was losing Wesley that night, maybe it was the shreds of Fred's consciousness that still circulated within her or maybe she was gaining humanity bit by bit. Angel didn't know at that moment, and truthfully, he didn't much care. Once he killed this dragon, the fight would be over.

They would win.

The knowledge coursed through him like the blood that once would have coursed through his veins and he stood, his eyes boring into the unnatural ones before him. The dragon saw him regroup and opened its enormous wings to their full span, blocking out the lonely glow of the street light and engulfing them in black shadow.

The rain was coming in sheets now as Angel tightened his grip on the sword in his hand. His shirt was ripped to shreds across his back, exposing three deep scratch marks to the burning baptism that fell from the heavens, but he paid the pain no attention. He'd given as good as he'd gotten in the battle tonight and now it was time for the killing blow.

Slowly, he began to advance on the dragon, walking toward it with a purposeful stride. His ears felt like they were about to explode as the monster let out a blood-curdling roar of warning but he never faltered. If he died tonight, at this moment, he was taking that thing with him. That would be his last sacrifice to right his wrongs, to make amends.

The dragon batted its wings, the sheer size of them sending up a gust of wind that almost knocked Angel back. It rose up from the ground just high enough to free its talons from the ground and Angel knew the thing's feet would reach him before he could get close enough to do the beast any real damage. Where was a rocket launcher when _he_ needed it?

Whatever he was going to do, he was going to have to do it now. The dragon screamed again, the sound shaking the ground beneath Angel's feet, and flapped its wings down again to stay aloft. Angel saw his opportunity immediately, a plan forming in his mind in milliseconds.

As the monster raised his wings back up, exposing his chest, Angel turned his back on it and began to run the opposite way down the alley.

"You Nancy! You can't just bugger off in the middle of a fight!"

Angel ignored Spike's furious insult as he ran by, knowing that his plan was working by the enraged scream that issued forth from the dragon and the incredible disturbance of the air around him as he heard it take off a bit higher to pursue him.

The flapping of its wings was getting louder and he had to fight himself not to move too soon. The flying nightmare behind him had to be in just the right spot or it would be he who would die tonight. He lifted the sword, grabbing the hilt with both hands and holding it straight up in front of him as he ran, his exhausted legs beginning to scream from the effort. He was soaked to the bone and a chill ran through him as he felt the hot air of the dragon's breath on his back. The time was now.

Angel stopped on a dime and threw the sword up and over his head with all of his remaining strength before he fell to the ground from the effort, rolling to look up immediately. He had to be sure his weapon had hit its mark. If it didn't, it was all over.

The dragon's wings batted frantically as its screams ripped through the air, piercing Angel's ears. The sword was fully sheathed in the dragon's heart and the look of pain and disbelief in its eyes told Angel all he needed to know. The beast fell to the ground with a rumbling boom, its strangled breath coming out in labored bursts.

Angel slowly got his feet, the familiar feeling that he'd been hit by a truck beginning to set into his limbs. He'd felt this way before and knew that, like the other times, it would pass. He had to look this thing, this representative of the senior partners, in the eye as it died. The last thing it would see was the side of what is right standing in victory.

One of its eyes rolled to watch Angel as he approached, the look of inevitability replacing the fear that had been in it when the vampire had struck him down.

"You lose. Take that to your hell." Angel murmured softly, his eyes never leaving the beast's enormous one.

The dragon's lips parted in a slow, pained, unnatural smile, surprising Angel. In the entire fight the beast had made no hint that it was capable of anything other than pure animal instinct. Its sentience was unsettling.

With a great effort the dragon took in a deep, shaking breath and closed its eyes. As it exhaled, the deep and rumbling sound of its voice sent chills up and down Angel's spine with the single word it uttered.

"Shansu."

As the dragon's body went utterly still in death, Angel's eyebrows slammed down in confusion. Before he could question why the monster had chosen that as its final word, an inexplicable tightening spread across his chest.

A great whoop of triumph went up down the alley and Angel could tell from the sound that it was Spike. The tightening began to edge its way into a searing pain and Angel dropped to his knees as every inch of his body began to burn as if it were on fire.

He heard Spike stop just behind him, his excited voice going unheard because of the screaming buzz in his ears.

Suddenly, his chest began to pound and waves of dizziness swept over him. He gasped and fell to his side as he realized that the air he took in actually inflated his lungs, that the relentless pounding in his chest was his heart. He felt electric, his skin buzzed and his head swam. Realization hit him all at once and he lay on the ground staring up at the rain pouring down on him from the Powers That Be.

Angel was alive, but not how he usually was.

Angel was again a man.


	2. The Veil is Lifted

Buffy awoke with a start, her body shooting straight up in bed before she realized that it was just a dream. Soft sunlight shone through the split in the drapes, illuminating little flecks of dust in its path. It was early morning. She was alone, in her room at Giles' estate in England, but the dream had taken her to a place in her past and now she felt out of sorts and afraid.

She ran a hand through her honey blonde hair, wiping the back of her other hand across her eyes. It was only then that she realized she had been crying. Loudly.

As if on cue, a soft knock at the door sounded just before the knob clicked and a familiar face peaked in. "Everything okay Buffy?"

Buffy took in a gulp of air, Willow's mere presence helping to calm her and she motioned for her friend to come in. Willow closed the door behind her and walked over to the queen bed, sitting on the end of it just like she used to do when they were high school classmates back in Sunnydale. The Hellmouth may have swallowed the town where their friendship was forged, but nothing could change their bond.

"What is it?"

Buffy took another steadying breath, a few stubborn tears still skittering down her cheeks. "Bad dream. Will, it was so real."

The look of concern on Willow's face mixed with a sudden alertness. Part of the slayer calling included prophetic dreams and Willow knew never to dismiss anything that happened in Buffy's subconscious.

"Big bad?"

Buffy shook her head, her heart aching at the vivid memories that still sat in her mind. "It was Angel."

Confusion knit Willow's brows together. "Something is going to happen to Angel? Or, is Angel going to do something bad?" The confusion on Will's face melted into a look of foreboding. "I don't have to fly all the way back to LA to re-ensoul him again, do I?"

Buffy chuckled a bit through her tears, shaking her head again. "No, nothing like that. The dream wasn't about anything that was happening now, or in the future. It was in the past, except it never really happened."

"Well, then it was just a dream-dream and not a big-bad-world-swallowing-evil-dream. No big." Willow smiled brightly through the sleepiness that Buffy could see in her eyes. She was constantly reminded how lucky she was to have a friend like Willow, a friend who would sit up talking to her after a bad dream, even if it meant sacrificing another hour of precious sleep.

Buffy ran a hand through her hair again and fought the urge to break down into sobs. "I don't know Will. What happened in the dream seemed like it was all made up in my head, but the feeling of the dream…it felt the way dreams feel when I'm supposed to pay attention to them. I've had a lot of practice at dissecting my dreams, there was something to this one."

Will crawled into the middle of the bed and sat cross-legged in front of her friend. All sleepiness was gone from her large, blue eyes as she looked intently at Buffy, an expression of resolve on her kind features. "Okay, maybe it would help if you told me everything you remember while its still fresh. Then, maybe, we can figure out what you're supposed to pay attention to."

Buffy nodded her head. The memories of the dream were still a painful burn in her heart, but she knew the only way to figure out what to do with it was to get it out.

"I dreamt that we were back in freshman year at UC Sunnydale and I went to visit my Dad after Thanksgiving. You remember, the super perfect Thanksgiving that ended with a Shumash massacre?"

Willow nodded her head. "I remember. Fighting, syphilis, mashed potatoes and a hearty helping of secret Angel lurking."

Buffy shuddered. "Well, I never told anyone, but I went to see Angel while I was in LA visiting my Dad. I wanted to confront him about sneaking around, about not telling me that he had been there."

Willow's eyes went wide but she didn't respond, allowing Buffy to continue. "He acted aloof at the time and I left, feeling like things with us were officially over forever. He hadn't acted like he really cared all that much. We were interrupted by a demon crashing through his office window, which he killed instantly and I left. But, in my dream, it got away and we decided to track it together."

"Do you think that maybe this demon has something to do with Angel in the present?" Willow interrupted.

Buffy shook her head. "No. In the dream, Angel and I tracked the demon through the sewers before I headed up to the surface to see if it went into the daylight. The next thing I know, Angel is walking toward me in the light."

Willow's eyes grew larger as she searched Buffy's face. She was clearly hanging on every word.

"He walked right up to me and kissed me. He'd killed it in the sewers and his blood had mixed with the demon's, which had the power to make him human. We went back to his place and sat forever, not knowing what to say. I was so afraid to say the wrong thing. I'd dreamed of a way for him to be human so many times. It was so complicated and I was about to leave after we agreed to take things slow, but then all of a sudden we were on his kitchen table."

Buffy looked at Will with a small blush, which made Willow smile. "Don't stop now, you're just getting to the smoochy parts."

Buffy rolled her eyes good-naturedly and went on, choosing to edit a bit for her own modesty's sake. "We spent the whole day together, eating ice cream in his bed, making love, talking. I could hear his heart beating in his chest, feel warmth in his skin when I touched it. It was so vivid in the dream, I can still feel it."

The memories that still clung to her from the dream were threatening to break her heart into a million pieces and she finished the story in a rush to try and keep her still fragile emotions in check. "The next morning he was gone. The demon had regenerated itself and he got his ass kicked trying to fight it because he'd lost his vampire strength. I caught up with him and killed it myself, which wigged him out. Taking this as a sign that he couldn't help me fight the battles of good and evil as a human, he had some creepy brother and sister with blue body paint change him back to a vampire by making it so the day before had never happened."

Despite her best efforts, tears spilled slowly over her bottom lashes and down her cheeks as she got to the end of the dream. "He told me what he'd done with only minutes to spare before the spell took effect and I wouldn't remember what had happened. We cried in each other's arms, knowing that we were losing each other again. Then, suddenly, were were back to the day before again and I was standing in his office while we coldly decided to keep with the plan of staying away from each other, my memory erased of our day together. Angel was left to remember it alone, so we wouldn't make the same mistake again. He killed the monster when it crashed into his office immediately so it couldn't make him human. Then I left, just like my original memory of that day."

Willow shook her head slowly and reached out to take Buffy's hand in her own. "Do you think it really happened? There can't be any other explanation for it, I mean, that is a pretty vivid dream Buffy. Maybe you are remembering it now after all this time."

Buffy shrugged, wiping her tears away with her free hand. "It would be just like Angel to decide what is best for me, for us, without talking to me about it first. But why would I remember it now, that is if it's actually a memory and not just a dream-dream."

Willow's eyes were alive with the ideas bouncing around furiously in her brilliant mind. "There are lots of reasons why you could be remembering it now. Maybe, the brother and sister you were talking about were witches and they did a spell. The spell's strength might only be effective for a little while before it started to break down and fade, like, a glamour. Or , maybe one of them died, which would also make the spell fade depending on the types of magics used, or…"

Willow's voice drifted off and Buffy didn't like the look that had suddenly come into her eyes. It was the look that she gave Buffy whenever she knew something that she didn't want to repeat, when she didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. It was a tortured expression and it was making Buffy's stomach clench with dread. "Or what? Will, you have to spit it out."

The tortured expression never left her face. "Or, maybe, the subject who originally requested the spell is…"

Buffy dropped her eyes to the hand that still rested in Willow's comforting one. "Dead?"

She lifted her gaze back up and looked at Willow's face, knowing that she'd hit the mark and feeling like she wanted to throw up. "Maybe Angel is dead?"

"The spell is most likely bound by him somehow. You said that he still remembered everything that had happened. Well, if something happened to him, the spell could be broken as his consciousness left this plane of existence."

Buffy's chest constricted and a choked sob broke free as she continued to stare down at Willow's hand intertwined with her own. "Oh God Will, this can't be happening! After everything that I've been through, after all the time that I've sacrificed fighting for what was right I always thought that there would come a day when it was our turn, when there would be a time for Angel and I. This just can't be happening, it can't."

Willow's heart broke at the devastation in her friend's voice. She was no stranger to losing the love of her life, even if she had learned to find happiness again. Angel had always been Buffy's big love, her soul mate. They had to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

"Hey, there's no reason to jump to conclusions. It's most likely that, if it even was a spell, that it just ran its course for some reason. I'll call Wesley. I'll make something up about a book that we need or something and then I'll just ask how everyone is."

Willow unfolded herself from the bed and walked out of the room, reappearing a few moments later with her cell phone in her hand. She began dialing the number as she gently re-closed the door and then waited patiently as it started to ring, smiling reassuringly at Buffy as she reclaimed her seat at the end of the bed.

The line rang several times and Willow winced inwardly as she realized that it was after one o'clock in the morning in California. She was about to hang up when the line finally clicked on, but no one voiced a greeting. Willow's eyebrows lowered in a confused scowl. "Hello?"

"Who calls?" The deep woman's voice on the other end of the line replied in a monotone. Willow's eyebrows dropped down another notch.

"This is Willow. Willow Rosenburg? I'm calling for Wesley Windham Price, I must have the wrong number."

"Wesley is dead."

The sound of the other end of the line disconnecting seemed like a boom in Willow's ear as her heart began to slam in her chest. Buffy could tell instantly that something was terribly wrong and was on her feet before she knew it.

"Willow, what's wrong? Who was that?"

Willow looked up into Buffy's eyes, her own beginning to grow glassy with the tears that would surely be coming once her confusion and fear gave way to them.

"We have to go to LA. Something is terribly wrong."


	3. The Dust Settles

"It's always all about you! You, you big poof with your hair and your stupid brooding, '_Oh, I'm Angel, I'm a great big bint with a great big sob story, don't you feel sorry for me_?' It was me, ME, who wore the amulet in Sunnydale!"

Angel watched silently as Spike paced in front of where he sat on the red love seat in the lobby of the dusty and neglected Hyperion. "I sacrificed myself, and what did you do? You were the errand boy! Then you go and kill a dragon and all of a sudden you're destiny's golden child? Are the Power's on some kind of acid trip?"

Wesley's death was a devastating blow that was going to sit in Angel's heart forever, especially in moments like these. Who was going to make sense out of these things now that he was gone? Who would explain the unexplainable in a way that Angel could understand?

The events of the night kept running over and over in Angel's mind like a 1950's newsreel before a Saturday morning matinee. Wesley was dead, Lorne was gone, Gunn was in the hospital, The Circle of the Black Thorn was defeated and Angel was human.

He wanted to say something to Spike that would calm him down, but he couldn't even wrap his mind around it himself. The Shanshu prophecy had come to pass despite signing his right to it away in his efforts to eradicate the Circle of the Black Thorn. He watched as the vampire that had shared his blood line raged before him and Angel knew it was probably best just to let him ride out his fury. Had the shoe been on the other foot, he knew he would be just as frustrated and hurt.

Spike advanced toward Angel menacingly. "You know what I should do? I should bite you, I should bite you and kill you again, make you my bitch. That'll show you."

Angel stood then, coming toe to toe with the vampire. The muscles in his newly human legs screamed in protest. His healing hadn't been complete from the fight before he'd lost the benefit of his vampire healing and he thought it would probably be days before he didn't ache everywhere.

Fury and hurt radiated off of Spike like heat, his blue eyes staring with deadly scorn into Angel's. They looked at each other for a few moments before Angel spoke. "Spike, I know you're upset, but we can't know for sure what this means. Not without Wesley."

Spike stopped momentarily at the mention of the former watcher's name, his jaw tightening with barely disguised sadness. Angel used the momentary halt to Spike's tirade to his full advantage. "The prophecy could still apply to both of us, we both had souls. Who is to say that it can't apply to any vampire with a soul once they've fulfilled their destinies? Tonight it was just my turn."

Spike stared at Angel for a moment before all of the fight visibly left him and he dropped into the seat where Angel had been sitting moments before. They all needed rest, needed to process what had happened to them and Angel was glad that this round was over for the night.

Without another word he began to make his way up the stairs. In his exhaustion he could hear whispers in the air of the people who had walked the corridors of the hotel, people who were now gone from this world. Wesley, Fred, Cordy. He reached the top step and put his hands in his pockets as he walked down the hall past rows and rows of doors, his mind turning more fully to Cordelia.

He'd loved her, loved her the way a man who has loved and lost and learned from it loves a woman. She had a piece of his heart and always would. But, like Angel this night, her destiny had been fulfilled and she was in a place of beauty and peace now. Angel's eyes softened at the thought that Cordy was surely orchestrating things for the Powers That Be now, sure that a force of nature like her would never just settle for a quiet afterlife. She was too wonderfully bossy for that.

He was almost to his room when he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye that made him freeze in place. His head snapped around to peer into the room where he'd seen an impossible sight and his breath caught.

Fred was in her room, looking around as if she recognized the space where she'd spent so much time, but couldn't make sense of it. Angel closed his eyes tightly and reopened them, wondering if his exhaustion was playing with his freshly human mind, but she was still there.

After a moment she noticed him looking at her and gave him a bright smile, just like she used to, before her face began to harden, her eyes growing cold.

Mercilessly, she turned back into Illyria before his very eyes. The transformation tore at his newly beating heart.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment before Illyria spoke. "I'm sorry, I know that it doesn't please anyone when I look like her. It was almost involuntary. This space was hers, that of me which is still her could sense it. She just emerged."

Angel shook his head. "You don't have to explain." It killed him to see Fred as she'd been, but he understood the feeling of having something inside, a side to himself, that seemed independent of him. He didn't know if he would ever get used to the idea of that monster who'd lived within him, alongside his soul, being gone forever.

Illyria gazed around the room again. "I shall miss Wesley."

Angel's heart hurt. "Me too."

A tear ran down the demon queen's cheek, surprising Angel. "I no longer know if it is she who cries for him or if it is I. There is a feeling in my chest that is unpleasant. I do not understand what it is."

Angel leaned tiredly against the doorjamb, his hands still in his pockets. "It's love. Whether or not it comes from you or from Fred, you feel love for Wesley and pain for his death."

Illyria stood unmoving, the single tear that had escaped her eye drying against her cheek. "You have loved?"

Angel nodded his head slowly, his answer a soft whisper in the quiet of the room. "Yes."

"So you have known this feeling of…of loss?"

He nodded again, but this time he was shaken with surprise as thoughts of Buffy's death sprang unbidden to his mind and not Cordelia's. "It will get better. You just need time. Sleep."

With his words still hanging in the air he pushed himself up from the door frame he'd been leaning on and made his way down to his room. As he closed the door behind him he thought he heard a cell phone ring, thought he heard Illyria answer it, but he pushed the sounds to the back of his mind. His thoughts were reeling as he let his body collapse onto the bed that he'd once slept in when this had been his home.

He hadn't thought of Buffy's death in a long time. He'd come to terms with the fact that they could never be together as the events of their lives had continuously pulled them apart. Their sacred duties had made it impossible for them to be together, not to mention the fact that she was a flesh and blood woman who needed things that he hadn't been able to give her. Things that he'd desperately wanted to give her.

Despite his fatigue, he stared at the ceiling. They'd both tried to move on with their lives. He'd let himself try for happiness again, let himself open up to the idea of having feelings for Cordelia. Buffy'd had something with Spike, which made him want to break all of the furniture in the room. She'd also been linked to The Immortal, again, making him want to break all of the furniture in the room.

He'd lived over two hundred years and he was wise in many ways, but when it came to matters of the heart he was blind. When he'd gone to Sunnydale to deliver the amulet to Buffy, just before the Hellmouth had taken the city, it had been like no time had passed. They'd fallen into each other's arms, the memory of their love still bright and true in his heart. He knew she felt the same way, knew the way you know when its your soul mate. It had been one of those moments with Buffy that reminded him of how much they'd had. They were never enough, but the only choice for them was to take those moments where they could.

With a sigh, he began to drift off as thoughts swam in his mind. He supposed it was only natural that he would think of her now. The last time he'd been granted humanity unexpectedly, he'd been able to spend that day making love to her, the only woman who had ever owned his heart.

But this time, it was different. His duty was truly done, his destiny fulfilled. He no longer needed to worry about the consequences that his loss of strength would heap upon Buffy. She was no longer the only slayer, she didn't have to carry the fight solely on her own shoulders.

When sleep finally took him his dreams held images of, for the first time, hope.

**What do you think so far? Hope you are enjoying it, please lemme know:)**


	4. The Cavalry Approaches

The constant drone of the jet engines made the air inside the cabin hum while the passengers all around the Scoobies slept or listened to iPods. Buffy knew that she should probably try to get some rest herself, but it seemed completely out of reach at the moment. What if she had another dream, this one actually showing her Angel's death? As long as there was no confirmation that he truly was dead, there was hope. As long as there was hope, then her heart didn't have to shatter into a million pieces at the thought that she'd waited too long and missed her chance.

"Bloody airplane water closets. I don't know how they expect reasonably sized people to get in and out of them without bruising half of their bodies in the process." Giles reclaimed his seat next to Buffy and pulled his book on temporal shifts and disembodied spirit re-animation out from the magazine pocket in front of him.

"Hey, what they lack in size they make up for in the fun you get from watching the blue water get sucked down with the force of a tornado." Giles and Buffy both turned a questioning look over to Xander who sat next to the window, a pleased expression on his face. "Hey, I'm easily amused. This should come as no surprise."

"I like that the soap dispenser is bolted down, but it always makes me wonder why there isn't a seatbelt on the toilet. What if you're in there and there's an air pocket?" Andrew got up on his knees to turn and look back at them from the center seat in front of Buffy. "Why is it more important to save the soap?"

Buffy stared blankly at him for a moment before disregarding him completely, turning her attention back to Giles. "Tell me again what your sources said. I need the details one more time."

Giles closed his book and set it in his lap as Willow, who was sitting next to Andrew on the aisle, turned in her seat as well to listen to the conversation.

"Their information was, unfortunately, quite sketchy Buffy. Apparently there was a huge spike in supernatural energy in Los Angeles at about the time of your dream this morning. They were able to surmise that a large battle had taken place and a portal had been opened to a hell dimension, letting all manner of evil energies into the area."

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, her eyebrows lowering in an expression of mild confusion. "And they don't know who opened it? I mean, magic like that has to leave some kind of signature or something, right?"

"Not necessarily." Willow answered. "If the portal was opened from the hell dimension itself and not by someone in this dimension there would be no way of knowing how or why it opened."

Giles nodded. "Willow is quite right. My sources say that there has been a build up of evil energy in the Los Angeles area that exceeded the norm over the last several weeks. It appears that whatever has been going on there came to its conclusion today at approximately one o'clock in the morning California time. The residual energy surrounding the event could take days to clear and, in the mean time, they can't get a firm read on anything or anyone I'm afraid."

"So, basically, we have no idea what happened, no idea who or what is behind it and no idea what has happened to Angel."

Giles looked at Buffy empathetically before she laid her head back against the headrest in frustration. "I hate this."

Xander reached out his hand and laid it reassuringly on Buffy's knee. "I know Buff. But, that's why we're winging it back across the pond. We'll find out what got all brewed up in the brouhaha and we'll kick its ass."

Buffy took the hand on her knee into her own and smiled a faint, appreciative smile at her friend before she directed her expression of gratitude toward everyone in the group. "Thank you guys for doing this with me. I mean, we don't really have a lot to go on but some vague readings, a dream and a strange voice on a cell phone. Whatever the big bad is we'll deal with it, but… it's just that…I need to see for myself that Angel is alright. Despite everything that's happened, I know now that I've never stopped loving him."

A faint gagging sound rose up from the window seat in front of Xander just before Dawn's head popped up to join Andrew and Willow's, her expression one of pure revulsion. Buffy matched her sister's look of disgust with a perturbed look that older sisters reserve solely for their younger counterparts. "Immature much?"

Dawn cocked an eyebrow at the annoyed tone in her sister's voice. "Hey, I like Angel, like him better than any of the other dweebs you've forced me to deal with. I just can't help having the urge to vomit when I have to listen to you moon over him, that's all."

Buffy rolled her eyes and ignored the small smiles that the rest of the group were trying unsuccessfully to hide. "Oh please, you liked every guy who ever came over. You thought Riley was Mr. Wonderful."

Dawn cocked her eyebrow saucily at her sister. "Yeah, well, I was a child and he turned out to be some whiney baby who went on to marry GI Jane in the jungle somewhere. I don't think my taste should be the taste on trial here?"

It was Dawn's way to keep Buffy calm by keeping her annoyed and it always worked like a charm. If Buffy had something else to focus on, she wasn't driving herself crazy with things that were temporarily out of her control.

Giles removed his glasses and wiped them with the hem of his shirt before he retrieved his case for them in his small carryon and put them away. "Yes, well, we have several more hours ahead of us before we reach the States and I think it best we all try to get a bit of rest. We don't know what will be waiting for us when we arrive."

The group agreed, extending good nights to each other and clicking off their overhead lights before settling in for some sleep. Buffy leaned her head on Xander's solid, comforting shoulder. She was sure that she wouldn't be able to manage anything more than merely resting her eyes, but drowsiness began to wash seductively over her and she didn't fight it. Giles was right, she may need to be at full Slayer strength once they got to LAX.

Without realizing it, she began to dream. Images and sensations began to flit through her mind disjointedly of a hand here, a brush of fingers there. She couldn't see him, but she knew it was Angel, knew that they were in his bed in the basement of that office he'd rented when he'd first left her for LA.

He felt so good against her as he pressed his lips to her own. They were warm, the blood running through his body making them feel soft and so alive. He'd never felt like this before. She'd never known how cold his lips had felt all the times that she'd kissed him before. She'd loved him so much, so completely, that she hadn't noticed that his body didn't feel entirely natural beneath her hands when she touched him. He always held her with such passion and such tenderness that her mind didn't register that he was undead, his skin the same cool temperature as the room around them.

But now he felt almost hot to the touch as he pulled her shirt off and took her breasts in his large hands, a groan of pleasure sounding low in his throat as he continued to claim her mouth. She felt her hands reaching for his shirt, felt herself pulling it up and over his head while they momentarily broke contact so she could free him of it.

He pressed her to his broad chest, the sensation sending waves of desire through her and she thought back to the first and only other time they'd made love. No one could make her feel this. The touch of his skin alone brought fire to her blood, made her heart pound with wanting. He ran his hands up and down her exposed back, causing her to shudder against him.

"Buffy…" Her name was a whisper on his lips and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up with the chill it sent through her. That was all it took, just the sound of her name on his lips to melt her.

"Angel..."

A gentle shake of her shoulder broke into her consciousness and she opened her eyes reluctantly, grumpiness immediately taking hold at being torn from such a beautiful place in her mind.

"Buffy, they've signaled for us to prepare for landing. We're here." She looked over at Giles' calm smile and sat up slowly in her seat, reorienting herself to the sound of the jet engines and the people shuffling around her with their tray tables and their safety belts. Looking over at Xander she saw that he was still sleeping and she shook his shoulder just as gently as Giles had shaken hers.

"Tell Uncle Rory to do it." He murmured, prompting Buffy to nudge him just a bit more forcefully until he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Landing now." At her words he righted himself groggily, closing his eyes so he could gingerly rub the one that was made of glass. He'd only just gotten it and Buffy knew that it still felt sore, especially when he slept in it.

As the plane made its gradual descent into her home state a feeling of steely determination settled into Buffy's mind. It was time to find out what had happened here and what had happened to Angel.


	5. Another Piece of the Puzzle

The law office of Wolfram & Hart looked ominous and foreboding as it stood silhouetted against the grey sky. The rain was only a slow, soft drizzle now, but Buffy could see from the drenched sidewalks and wet buildings that it had been raining for quite some time. She wondered what it had been like, what ever it was that had happened here, the night before. Things seemed so mundane now, truly like the calm after a devastating hurricane.

The group approached the entrance and were surprised to find that there was no security, no one to ask them to state their business or prevent them from walking straight through the front doors. The entire place seemed utterly deserted.

She knew all about this place, knew that it was a place where evil was orchestrated like a classical ballet. Rumor had it that once Angel took it over the place was being dedicated toward the good, but equal rumors had circulated that Angel and his team were being used as pawns by the dark forces that controlled the city. Buffy had kept her distance from it, even when one of the newly activated slayers had been found, lost and insane, among Angel's group.

When she'd sent Andrew to pick the rouge slayer up, she'd told him to warn Angel. She'd told him to say that they didn't trust him so long as he was associated with Wolfram & Hart. It hadn't been entirely true of course, but she'd wanted Angel to know that she was aware of him, aware of his associations and aware of his actions. She knew that he would do anything to win the fight for the greater good, even if that meant blurring the black and white lines of right and wrong in the process. She'd only wanted him to have a reality check, in case he was dancing in the grey.

Her stomach flip-flopped at the memory. What if those were the last words that she ever directed at him in this life?

She didn't have much time to dwell on her thoughts as they entered the lobby and saw the wreckage all around them of what had once been a formidable source of evil.

"Holy smokes." Willow said as she looked around at the evidence from what must have been a pretty impressive fight. "Looks like we found ground zero."

Debris was scattered everywhere along with broken glass and splintered wood. Concrete beams from the ceiling lay strewn around the floor in piles of dust and the electricity flickered on and off, causing occasional sparks to shoot out from broken lighting fixtures in various spots around the room. It looked like a wrecking ball had arbitrarily hit the building a few times, leaving rubble and destruction everywhere.

Giles looked around them as they progressed further into the crumbling edifice, stumbling slightly on a fallen beam as he walked. "Whatever went on here must have been cataclysmic. We shouldn't linger long, the building looks as if it might crumble at any moment."

Buffy ignored his words as her eye caught movement up ahead and she began making her way toward it. A slender woman with straight, brown hair, no older than Buffy herself, sat among the rubble looking lost and desolate.

"Excuse me. Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Buffy asked as the woman looked up at her, the utter hopelessness in her eyes stirring the Slayer's heart.

"Am I hurt? I'm not hurt enough, I'm afraid." A rueful smile stretched across the woman's face, a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "I wish I was dead."

Buffy crouched down to come closer to the woman's eye level. "What happened here?"

The woman picked up a handful of rubble and watched dispassionately as she let it slip slowly through her fingers like the sand in an hourglass. "The end of the world."

As they were all still alive and breathing, Buffy was fairly certain that the woman hadn't meant that literally but growing up on the Hellmouth made her question it for a moment before she decided to take a different approach.

"Can you tell me your name?"

The woman continued to pick up rubble and let it slip back through her fingers to the ground. "Eve."

"Eve, we're here to help. My name is-"

"Buffy Summers." Eve finished her sentence for her, finally abandoning the rubble all around her and focusing her eyes on Buffy. "I know who you are. It was my job to know everything about Angel and his life. His past."

The rest of the gang came closer at the mention of Angel's name and Buffy's heart rate kicked up in her chest. "It _was_ your job? Past tense?"

Eve's expression grew dark. "I was Angel's liaison. It was my job to keep communication open between Angel and the Senior Partners. He never trusted me. Now I have nothing, nowhere to go. My entire life has been for nothing."

The sorrow in her voice was doing nothing to reassure Buffy of Angel's safety and panic started to bubble up in her throat. "Eve, What happened here? Where is Angel now?"

An icy glare hardened in Eve's eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"You listen here, you little she-demon! You daughter of chaos! You will tell us what we need to know or we will smite you where you sit!" All eyes turned slowly to Andrew as he stood staunchly in the middle of the group, doing his best to appear menacing, but merely looking slightly scared and a little perturbed.

Xander laid a brotherly hand on Andrew's shoulder. "Dude, we've discussed this."

Buffy turned her attention back to Eve, who returned the gaze with exhaustion creeping into her eyes. The small bit of spark and fight that she'd been able to drum up seemed to have left her.

She dropped her eyes to her lap. " Angel and his group staged a coup, a hostile takeover if you will. They declared war on the Circle of the Black Thorn, infiltrating their very core and killing every one of them off before biting the hand that fed them and killing off my boyfriend for bothering to help."

Eve looked back up, hatred in her eyes so intense that Buffy's senses kicked up like they usually did when a fight was coming. "They unleashed the wrath of hell for their trouble. If there's a benevolent force in this entire universe, Angel and all of his band of merry men are dead by now."

Buffy fought down the urge to deck the woman with every ounce of restraint in her body as she stood back up and faced the group. "We're going to have to fan out, we can cover more ground if we split up into groups of two. We'll meet up at the hotel in two hours."

As the group began to make their way out of the dilapidated remains of what had once been the center point of evil in Los Angeles, Eve called out one final directive.

"The Hyperion Hotel. If I had to bet, I'd bet they slunk off there to lick their wounds."

They turned to look at her as she stared after them, making no move to get up from where she sat.

"And why, exactly, should we trust you?" Dawn asked, voicing the question that was going through everyone's minds.

Eve shrugged and started to sift the rubble again with her now dust covered hands. "You shouldn't."

**Just a few more chapters to go. I'd love to hear what you think so far. Thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed already, I very much appreciate the feedback:)**


	6. The Fog Clears

Angel gazed at the book titles still remaining in the small office behind the bell desk of the hotel. Wolfram & Hart had unlimited resources with every book on the supernatural and the occult in existence, which made taking their small collection with them unnecessary. Angel was glad that they had the books, but without Fred or Wesley he had no idea where to begin.

He picked his tea back up off the desk and breathed its calming scent deeply through his nose before taking a sip. He'd applied liberal amounts of the honey he'd found in the kitchen and the result made it sweet and soothing as it slid warm and comforting down his throat. It tasted so good.

The hotel was pitifully empty of many supplies in the kitchen so Angel had satisfied his growling belly with dry Cheerios that were probably at least two years old. It had tasted like cardboard and he couldn't help but think about what he would eat for lunch. First he was hoping to find some answers about why the Shanshu prophecy had come to pass for him despite signing it away in his own blood.

"Looking to enjoy a bit of light reading, are you?" Angel turned to watch as Spike walked into the office and sat in the chair in front of the desk, propping his big black boots up on the papers scattered across its surface. Angel glared and turned back to the books.

"We need to talk mate. That is if it's not too much to ask that you talk to a lowly creature of the night such as myself."

Angel put the cup down and took the chair behind the desk, gazing expectantly across at Spike. Seeing that he had Angel's full attention, Spike slid his feet down and sat up straighter in the chair.

"I just wanted to tell you I'm leaving. Time for me to move on to bigger and better things."

Angel's expression didn't change even though his nemesis's words caused a vague sadness in him. He and Spike had a complicated relationship, but the truth was they were on the same side and had both been through more than anyone else on earth could understand. Angel voiced none of these thoughts, instead choosing just to ask, "Why?"

Spike gave Angel a look of annoyance. "Come now, you know why. The fight is over, the good guys won and I still haven't gotten top marks from the head master, if you know what I mean. I need to go out there and try to find my own destiny, see if I can be a real boy again some day too. Plus, I just don't want to be here when you finally get the girl, you understand."

Angel scowled in confusion. "No, Spike, I don't understand."

Spike's words were full of bravado, but the pain in his voice gave his feelings away. "Save the stupid act for the tourists. I've known you for a hundred years, literally. I know that if it were me, if I was the one who'd fulfilled the prophecy last night, the first thing I would have thought about was the slayer." Spike dropped his eyes, a resigned smile on his face. "But it wasn't my destiny. Not yet, and Buffy? Well, Buffy cared for me in her way."

Angel's jaw tightened, but he made no move to stop him. He wanted to hear him out. He owed him that much.

Spike raised his eyes back up to meet Angel's and continued on. "But, she didn't love me. Whether it was me, or the goofy boy with those psychotic commandos or anyone else who had the privilege of getting the slightest bit close to her, we could never make it all the way into her heart because we all had the same problem. None of us were you."

Angel's heart picked up a bit of speed at the man's words. He watched as Spike unfolded himself from his chair and made his way toward the door, turning back just before he crossed the threshold. "So, you understand why I can't stand by and watch a berk such as yourself get the girl. I always knew she wasn't mine, but I hate the fact that she's always been yours."

With that, Spike turned and left. Angel smiled. His words aside, Spike had shown and act of respect and friendship in what he'd just done and Angel couldn't help but admire him. He truly was on the path toward selflessness, even if he didn't know it himself.

The smile faded, however, as Spike's words came back to him. Had Buffy really loved him through everything that she'd been through? That they'd been through? Could she love him now?

Reaching into his pocket he took out a small ring, studying it as he had many lonely nights since it had come into his possession. Buffy had dropped it in his apartment on that day when he'd become human the first time and he'd put it in his pocket. Then he'd seen the oracles and the day had been erased. Angel thought back to later that night when he'd reached into his pocket and found it sitting there like a cruel reminder of what he'd had to destroy and he hadn't been able to stop the tears. It had felt like a cruel joke that it would still be there and he wondered if the oracles had let him keep it as a memento, or if they were merely amusing themselves with his pain. He'd slept with it on his pinky finger last night after waking from a terrible nightmare that the Shanshu had all been a dream.

Angel rose from his chair, placing the ring in the drawer to the desk for safe keeping and looked toward the glass doors that led to the courtyard entrance of the hotel. The clouds were breaking up and a soft light from the emerging sunshine was beginning to fill the space, making the green on the plants greener, making everything brighter.

He walked over to the doors and opened them, feeling the sun instantly on his skin as he had so few times in the last two hundred years. It felt warm and soothing as he walked out into the courtyard. He turned his face up to the heavens, closing his eyes and breathing in the smell of rain that still clung to the air, letting the light from the early afternoon sky wrap around him like a lover.

He didn't want to go back inside just yet, so he decided to take a walk to sort out his thoughts. He made his way out to the street and let his mind wander aimlessly as he walked, loving the way the sun made his dark hair feel warmer, how it tickled the pale skin on the back of his neck. Maybe he could walk over and visit Gunn, he thought. He could check on how he was doing and then come back to the books and the questions with a clear head.

The hospital was alight with activity when he arrived, making his way to the second floor where Gunn's room was. Angel smiled as he approached the hospital bed where his friend lay, oxygen tubes hooked up to his nose and bandages covering various parts of his body. Angel had been certain before the final battle started that he was going to lose another friend that night. Gunn had come into the battle badly wounded, but he'd stuck close to Illyria and held his own long enough to survive the night.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in here during the daylight hours."

Angel took a seat next to the bed. "You look good Gunn. I hear that you just might make it after all."

Gunn smirked. "Damn straight. It's going to take a lot more than some demon war to take me out."

Angel laughed and nodded. Now that he was human, he had everything to learn from the type of mortal strength that Gunn possessed. He'd lived over two centuries with no fear of death, but now his days were ticking down until he would finally die naturally. He would live them fearlessly, as Gunn did.

"Enough about me. Am I to understand that you are flesh and blood human now?"

Angel nodded his head, the smile on his face proud and humble all at the same time. "It was the Shanshu prophecy."

Gunn held up his fist for Angel to pound his knuckles, wincing slightly as the movement aggravated the wound to his abdomen. "Congratulations man. You definitely deserve it after all the things you've been through."

Angel tapped his fist against Gunn's, but his expression turned to one of doubt and confusion. Gunn noticed the change, a scowl crossing his features. "Why is it that you don't look happy?"

"It's not that I'm not happy. It's just that, I signed a contract with the Black Thorn that relinquished my humanity. I signed away the Shanshu."

Gunn's expression turned thoughtful. "Maybe it wasn't the Shanshu prophecy then. Maybe there was some other loop hole that we don't know about yet."

Angel shook his head. "The last word that the dragon spoke before it died was Shanshu."

Gunn cocked an eyebrow. "The dragon talked to you? Seriously?"

Angel nodded and chuckled a bit at his friend's expression. Gunn rolled his eyes. "We have some of the weirdest conversations on earth. You realize this don't you?"

Now it was both of them that chuckled for a few moments before the mood turned serious once more. Gunn shifted gingerly in the bed. "With everything that's going on, seems we need Wesley if we have any hope of getting any answers."

Angel nodded wearily as Gunn continued on, thinly veiled tenderness for their friend in his voice. "We're going to be babes in the woods without that stuffy little Englishman going through his books and making sense out of everything for us."

"I'm sorry, are you talking about me?"

Angel whipped his head around so quickly at the familiar voice to his back that it made him almost dizzy.

"Willow, I've found him." Giles called down the hall and then entered the hospital room. Angel stood up to greet the man just in time for Willow to enter the room and hit him with one of the biggest grins he'd ever seen.

Closing the distance between them with a small jog, she threw her arms around him in a fierce hug. "Angel, you're alright!"

Angel hugged her back, the smile on his face widening. "I'm fine, what are you two doing here?"

Willow broke the embrace and beamed up into his face, relief in her eyes. "Well, it all started yesterday morning when…" Willow's voice trailed off as she suddenly stared disbelievingly into Angel's eyes. He watched her with confusion as she slowly lowered her head back down to his chest where it had rested only moments ago during their hug.

She let it stay there for a few seconds and then stepped back from him, awe in her face. "You're alive."

Giles stepped forward, his expression suddenly showing avid interest. "Good Lord."

She turned to look at Giles and then back to Angel, her face alive with excitement and disbelief. "Your heart, it's beating. You're human. How, what did, why-"

The appearance of a nurse coming in to check on her patient interrupted them and Angel made his goodbyes to Gunn as she shooed them out to change the dressing on his bandages. Once they were out in the hallway, Willow and Giles started to hit him immediately with questions.

"How did this happen?"

"Was it a spell of some kind?"

"What happened last night?"

Angel looked around them at the nurses and doctor's and thought of what they would think if they overheard him explaining how he'd only just become human last night. He had to fight the urge to chuckle. "Let's go somewhere that we can talk privately." Willow and Giles nodded their heads in agreement and they made their way down the corridor until Willow stopped in front the door marked 'chapel'.

They entered the room and closed the door behind them, locking it so as not to be interrupted. The room was plain with folding chairs lined up in rows facing an altar that could serve any number of religious affiliations. There was no incense, no ceremonial candles, but up at the front of the room, carved into the pulpit, stood a large, plain cross. Angel stood at the back for a moment before he realized that the cross held no terror for him. Willow and Giles watched in silence as he approached it, gingerly reaching out his hand until his flesh made direct contact with the carved symbol.

With a soft smile he held it there for a moment and then looked back at this friends. There was no pain, no searing burn, just the feeling of flesh against smooth wood. Tears were in Willow's eyes as she watched him. "You're really human. It's real."

Angel dropped his hand and walked back to them, taking a chair and turning it so that it faced backward. Giles and Willow took the cue and sat down in chairs that faced his, listening as he recounted his story. He started from the beginning with the discovery of the Shanshu prophecy and his group's take over of Wolfram & Hart. He told them about Darla and Connor, about the Circle of the Black Thorn and the Senior Partners. Fresh tears sprang to both Giles and Willow's eyes as he told them about Cordelia and the ultimate sacrifice she made. He finished the story with the final battle, telling them about Wesley and finally about his transformation in the alley.

They sat in silence for a few moments when he finished, allowing the weight of the story they'd just heard to sink in.

"You've been through so much Angel. You must be relieved to know that you're finished. You've gotten your redemption."

Angel nodded slowly at Willow's words then directed his eyes to the floor. "I should be relieved. Its just that, I don't understand how this happened, which scares me that it's a mistake."

Giles cleaned his glasses on his shirt. "Well, you've said it yourself. This Shanshu prophecy stated that you will live again once your destiny has been fulfilled. It seems clear that your purpose here in this lifetime was to put an end to this Circle of the Black Thorn and to bring destruction to allies of the Senior Partners. Your part in this fight has merely come to its conclusion."

Angel shook his head. "Its not that part that I don't understand. I signed a contract just before we assassinated the Black Thorn that nullified any potential claim I may have to the Shanshu prophecy. I did it to gain their trust. I signed it with my own blood."

Putting his glasses back on his face, Giles regarded Angel with a thoughtful expression. "Since you've signed that contract the only thing that has changed is that you've had your humanity restored. You said that in his research, Wesley originally mistranslated the text's meaning as "to die?""

Angel nodded his head, following Giles train of thought closely. Giles continued. "Well, what if that wasn't a mistranslation? Suppose that the demon in you were to die? Should the demon that makes a vampire what he is die, it kills the body that the demon infected because there is no life force left, there is no soul. But, you had a soul Angel. When the vampire died, you were left with your human self intact. It seems any mystical contract you signed was nullified upon the death of your vampire self."

Willow's thoughts raced silently in her head at Giles' words. That must have been what happened when Buffy had her dream. She'd dreamed of a day in the past at the same time that Angel had become human. The spell had worked to make him a vampire again and was broken the moment the vampire died, giving Buffy her memory back of the day they'd shared.

Angel's expression was far away as he digested the information that Giles had just given him and then a soft smile touched his features. "That makes sense. I guess I'm just lucky that you were here."

At his own words, Angel's smile slowly faded into a look of confusion. "Which brings me back to the question, why are you here?"

"Well, actually, it all started with-"

"The coven." Willow blurted out, cutting Giles off before he could tell Angel about Buffy. Giles looked quizzically at Willow, his expression never changing as she began to ramble in a blind panic.

"There's a coven not far from Giles' estate who sensed a large spike in supernatural energy here in LA at the time that you became human and we came to see if everything was okay, you know, because, that's what we do, we check on the big evil. Yup, when there's big evil a-brewin', we come running and now that, you know, you're okay we can tell them what happened and they can go back to….other….stuff, we gotta go."

Grabbing Giles by the arm, she dragged him out of his chair before she shot a hasty, "Talk to you soon," over her shoulder and practically ran out of the chapel, leaving Angel alone and completely bewildered. She was a terrible liar and she knew the best thing she could do was get the hell out of dodge quick.

Angel was human and Buffy's dream had been real. Through all the years of torment that they'd both been through, Willow thought it was high time for them to have their happy ending and she wasn't about to ruin this surprise for anything.


	7. Fighting For An Answer

**Thanks so much for the reviews you guys, I'm really glad that you are liking the story! Just one more chapter after this one…**

"Doesn't look like anyone's been here in awhile." Dawn said as she walked a few paces behind Buffy through the doors of the Hyperion. "It's all dusty."

Buffy looked around the large lobby as she made her way to the front desk, running her fingers over a thin film of grime that had settled on the counter top. Dawn was right. Aside from the faint chirping of birds outside the place was silent and had the vague air of neglect about it.

"Hello?" Buffy called out, looking over the countertop for anyone to come out from the back. When no one answered her, she made her way around the corner and started toward the office.

"Buffy, you can't just go back there." Dawn hissed, looking around like they were about to get caught at any moment by hotel security.

"Dawn, the place is obviously deserted. If it makes you feel better, just stand out there and keep a look out." Buffy disappeared into the office for a moment before peaking her head quickly back out. "And DON'T touch anything."

Dawn rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath about being treated like a child until she turned fifty, but she did as she was told, leaning idly against the front desk as she picked at her cuticles.

Buffy looked around the small interior office behind the front desk, imagining Angel here. She knew that he and his group had moved to the hotel after their offices were blown up across town. Willow had said it was a pretty place and that everyone had seemed happy here. She could see how that would have been true once, but the place seemed cold and empty now.

Making her way over to the desk, she saw papers scattered over the top with a few books here and there. She noticed a coffee mug of tea sitting to the side of the papers and felt it. Still warm. Someone had just been here, maybe they'd only stepped out for a moment and would be coming right back.

She turned her attention to the papers on the desk, hoping that maybe there would be a clue there. Some of the papers were in different languages and she wished that Giles had come with her instead of going to check the hospitals with Willow. Leafing through until she found writing in English, her heart dropped when she recognized Wesley's handwriting on a sheet of notebook paper. Picking it up to read it, she felt a sadness in her heart at the death of her former Watcher.

The paper was old and looked like it had been folded and unfolded several times, enough to cause little tears in the creases where the folds had been. Squinting at his fine hand, she digested the words with growing panic.

_The Prophecies of Aberjian make mention of The Shanshu Prophecy. The vampire with the soul, once he fulfills his destiny will shanshu. Duel translation, Shanshu can mean live or die based upon its context. The vampire with a soul shall live or the vampire with a soul shall die. It is his reward. _

Buffy wanted to crumple the paper and throw it across the room, to tip the desk over and scatter the papers everywhere. The thought that Angel could be dead was becoming more and more real. She needed Giles to see this, maybe he would know what this Shanshu thing was. Frantically, she began rifling through the papers on the desk, hoping to find more to go on. Finding nothing, she yanked open the top drawer and stared in stunned silence at what she saw.

A small, white gold ring with three tiny pink stones sat among the pencils and papers. Buffy picked it up, her breath coming out quick and shallow. It was hers. She'd lost it when she'd visited her father once, had called him to see if he'd found it but it had been gone forever. It had been a gift from one of her friends on the cheer line from Hemery and she'd hated to lose it.

Realization hit her like a fist and she sank down into the chair behind the desk, her heart slamming against her ribs. It really had been real. That visit with her father had been the one right after Thanksgiving, the one that she'd dreamt about just a day ago.

Clutching the ring in her fist, she squeezed her eyes closed against the tears, thinking of Angel knowing all this time that they'd had a perfect day and never being able to tell her. He'd ripped the memories from her, turned himself back into a monster, to protect her. He'd kept the ring, obviously kept it close. She had to find him, make sure he was alright, because now more than ever she was sure that he still loved her. She definitely still loved him.

A scream ripped through her thoughts and Buffy leapt to her feet, running out to the lobby in the direction the voice had come from. Dawn was frozen in fear as a woman with blue hair held her by the neck against the wall, her cold eyes and face utterly expressionless as she studied Dawn's terrified face. Buffy jumped over the front desk, grabbing the woman by the arm to pull her off of her sister.

Icy blue eyes pinned her own for a split second before the woman released Dawn, only to throw the arm back that Buffy held with enough force to send the slayer flying through the air. Buffy hit the red love seat in the center of the room before she rolled to the ground with a thud. The woman was obviously a demon and stronger than she looked.

Buffy jumped to her feet just in time to see the demon facing her, those cold, blue eyes watching her with vague curiosity. Buffy advanced on her again, terror seizing her heart as she watched Dawn jump on the demon's back, grabbing fistfuls of blue hair.

"Dawn, no!" Buffy screamed, but was too late to stop her from throwing her baby sister off of her back and into the wall with such force that Dawn slid lifelessly down to the ground, clearly unconscious.

Buffy closed the remaining distance and hit the demon with a punch that barely registered on her face. As if she were a fly buzzing around her, she retaliated by backhanding Buffy, sending the slayer flying back yet again. Buffy hadn't fought anyone with this kind of strength since Glory and the cold and calculated way in which she fought was beginning to fray her already fragile nerves.

If Buffy had learned anything over the years about fighting things that were bigger and stronger than she was, it was that you needed something big to hurl at it. Rolling back suddenly until she put the love seat between them, she kicked out at the piece of furniture with all of her strength, sending it at the demon with such force and speed that it hit her full in the body, sending her to the ground under the makeshift missile.

The move slowed her down for a fraction of a second before Buffy found herself having to duck as the love seat came back at her, sailing over her head and through the French doors that led to the courtyard with the deafening sound of shattering glass.

Wasting no time, Buffy got a running start and jumped up onto the bell desk, spotting the blue haired monster and then launching into a flying kick to her face that knocked her down again.

The demon looked up at Buffy from the ground, anger flashing in her once expressionless eyes as she jumped to her feet and grabbed Buffy by the throat. "You have strength that exceeds that of mortals." She lifted Buffy off of her feet until she dangled at least a foot in the air. "But I am stronger."

Buffy clutched instinctively at the small yet vise-like hand at her throat. "Yeah, you're pretty strong for a smurf."

Her grip began to tighten until Buffy was sure that she was about the crush her windpipe. Her vision began to darken and she knew she had to do something quick or she was going to lose consciousness.

"Hey Illyria!"

At the sound of her name behind her the demon dropped Buffy like she was no more important that a dirty dish rag and turned toward the voice just in time to get a fist to the face. The blow was so hard that she went sailing back into the reception desk, the force of her body cracking it down the middle.

Buffy looked in shock as she saw the owner of the fist was a young man, no more than Dawn's age.

Holding out a hand, Buffy let him help her up as he looked between the two women in utter bewilderment. "What the hell is going on here?"

Illyria got back to her feet, but made no effort to advance on Buffy and her new champion. "The young one was unable to identify herself. I was merely protecting us from further retaliation."

A groan rose from behind them and all eyes turned in time to see Dawn stand up from where she'd been knocked out, her hand rubbing the tender spot on her head. "I would have identified myself if her hand hadn't been around my neck." Dawn looked at the assembled group with irritation and then leveled her eyes at Illyria. "Bitch."

Buffy looked with suspicion from Connor to Illyria. "She sure calmed down the minute you came into the picture. Why didn't she come after you when you hit her?"

"I would not hurt Angel's son."

Buffy's eyes grew wide and she stared in disbelief at the young man before her, only vaguely aware that Dawn had slowly made her way to her side and was staring at him in kind. "You're Connor?"

Connor looked at her with interest. "My reputation precedes me I see. And who, might I ask, are you?"

Buffy continued to stare. "I'm Buffy Summers. I'm a friend of Angel's."

Connor's eyes flashed recognition as she revealed who she was. "You're Buffy?"

Despite herself, she could feel a blush begin to creep up her neck and into her cheeks like she was a high school kid again. "You know who I am?"

Connor put his hands in his pockets, excitement registering on his face. "Know who you are? You're practically legend where Angel, er my father, is concerned. According to pretty much everyone he had that whole big 'one true love' thing for you."

His words gave her butterflies in her stomach and she wanted to ask him more, ask him about himself and his life when Dawn suddenly swayed in her peripheral vision. Reaching out she caught her sister as she lost her balance.

Connor reached out to help steady her, noticing her wound as they helped her regain her balance. "Whoa there, that's quite a bump you have on your head."

Buffy's face was full of concern. "Dawn, we have to get you back to the hotel."

Dawn tried to give Buffy her most reassuring expression, but it just came out like a grimace. "Nothing a bottle of aspirin mixed in with some chocolate pudding and Captain Crunch won't fix."

Connor chuckled, his eyes twinkling. "I love chocolate pudding with Captain Crunch, you do crunch berries or plain?"

Dawn looked at Connor in slight disbelief as she stammered her answer. "P- Peanut butter."

Connor made a face that said he was impressed and something passed between them that made Buffy's eyes roll. "Look, we came to see if Angel was alright. Do you know where he is?"

Connor shrugged his shoulders. "I came by for the same reason. Last time I saw him he was on his way to fight some huge, apocalyptic battle. I just wanted to see if he made it through."

"Angel made it through the fight and the Shanshu prophecy came to pass."

All eyes turned to Illyria who had been standing as still as stone ever since Connor had interrupted their fight. Buffy's stomach clenched. "What does that mean, Shanshu? Is Angel…is he dead?"

Illyria cocked her head to the side and regarded the slayer's tense expression before she continued. "It is you that was his love. Yes?"

Buffy looked into the demon's eyes and she could see that she was earnest. "Yes."

Illyria tilted her head back to the center. "The Shanshu prophecy foretold of a great reward for the vampire with a soul once his destiny was fulfilled. Angel reacquired his humanity upon completion of the battle last night."

The group stood utterly still, silence laying over them like a heavy fog as they all fought to process the information.

It was Connor who spoke first. "So, you mean, he's not a vampire anymore? He's mortal, like us?"

Illyria turned her attention to Connor. "That is correct."

Tears burned in Buffy's eyes as joy welled up inside her chest so strong that her knees grew wobbly. She wanted to sob and laugh and jump around like a fool all at once, but the weight of Dawn leaning heavily against her shoulder reminded her that she had to get her to a bed before she could do what her heart so desperately wanted her to.

"Will Angel be back here? Is this where he is staying?"

Illyria nodded slowly and Buffy began helping Dawn to the door. "Please don't tell him I was here. I'll be back to tell him myself."

Connor and Illyria watched as Buffy walked Dawn through the wreckage of the lobby and out the shattered French doors to the courtyard. Once they were out of earshot, he turned to Illyria. "So, that is the original slayer. She is _hot._" He turned to Illyria who was watching him with mild interest. "Then again, I did always have a thing for older girls."


	8. And in the End, There is Only Love

**This is the last chapter. Thank you so much again to those of you who left feedback, your words helped me keep going on this story. I hope you enjoy the ending. B/A forever!**

Angel walked through the darkened courtyard of the hotel, his pace slowing as he came across the red love seat that had clearly come sailing through the French doors. His eyes narrowed with confusion as he walked through the ruined entryway, a vision of Illyria standing amid total destruction meeting him upon entering the lobby.

Angel looked at her with bewilderment as she met his gaze. "What happened?"

Illyria looked at him for a moment before answering, her expression never changing. "I fell."

Not wanting to know anymore he turned without a word and made his way up to his room, closing the door behind him. He was human again but he was still coming home to inexplicable scenes of chaos and damage with demons in his home. He supposed that some things just never changed.

He sat down on the end of the bed, his muscles still sore from the fight. He was contemplating taking a long, hot bath when there was a soft knock at the door, so gentle that he almost didn't hear it. If it had been Illyria, he was certain that the knock would have been more forceful, that was if she'd even bother to knock at all. Feeling slightly unsure about who could be on the other side, he got up and pulled the door open.

His heart started slamming uncomfortably in his chest as he gazed down at Buffy standing in his doorway, her hands behind her back. She was here, really and truly here and more beautiful than anything he'd ever seen in his entire life.

"Buffy." He put his hands self-consciously in his pockets. "What are you doing here?"

A wry smile tilted the corner of her mouth the way it always did when he'd done something awkward. "Hello to you too."

He looked down and smiled softly. "I'm sorry. It's just that I didn't know… it's good to see you."

He stepped aside to let her enter the room, taking a deep breath for composure as he closed the door. When he turned around to face her, she took her hands from behind her back and held something out for him. When he saw what it was his breath caught in his throat.

Cookie dough fudge mint chip ice cream.

His eyes flew to meet her gaze.

"If memory serves, this is your favorite."

Angel's mind was reeling. He had carried the memory around like a torch of sitting in bed, eating ice cream with her after they'd made love, shouldering the burden of knowing just how good they had been together while she had been made to forget. He'd never told anyone.

How could she possibly know?

Without warning, tears came to his eyes. This was real and this time there was nothing standing in the way. They'd done what they had been called to do and they'd survived. Their reward from the Powers that Be had been to survive their separate destinies with their mortal lives.

Their gift, as it was turning out, was each other.

His voice came out in a whisper, shaking with emotion, as he stared into her hazel eyes. "How did you know? How did you find out?"

She smiled, her own eyes growing glassy with tears. "I had a dream the other night about a beautiful day." She walked over to his credenza and set the ice cream down. "We'd fought a demon and its blood made you human. We spent the day wrapped up in each other, and then you made yourself a vampire again so you could protect me."

She was beginning to swim in his vision through his tears and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to hold them back from falling for much longer as he slowly closed the distance between them.

_She knew_.

Her voice began to waiver as she looked up at him, shaken by his nearness. She met his gaze full on. "I can see from your face that it wasn't just a dream."

The closest Angel could manage to a response was a weak shake of his head, the lump in his throat blocking his ability to speak as he clung desperately to the last shreds of his composure.

After that day had happened, he'd fantasized about the spell backfiring and Buffy finding out about that day. He'd imagined that she would storm into his office and demand that he go back to the oracles and tell them that he'd made a mistake, that she didn't need him to protect her, that she could take care of herself. Now that she really did know, a weight had been lifted. Suddenly, he needed to be closer to her, needed to touch her.

Reaching out he took her hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her soft skin. The feel of metal registered in his mind and he looked down to see that she was wearing the claddagh ring that he'd given her.

A tear skittered down his cheek and he smiled shyly at her. "You kept it." He whispered, his voice soft.

Her own tears were beginning to fall and she lifted her free hand to touch his face, his cheek feeling as soft and warm beneath her hand as she'd remembered from her dream. "Of course I kept it. No matter what has happened to us Angel, there's never been anyone who could touch what you are to me. There never will be."

His heart was so full it was almost painful. So many emotions pulsed with each beat, he couldn't make sense out of any of them. He felt humble that he'd been given something so treasured as this and afraid that something would happen to tear it out of his hands as it had so many times in the past.

Mostly though, he felt love, pure and true, beating for the woman standing before him. He'd loved her from the moment he'd seen her called as a slayer and he loved her now as she stood before him as the woman she'd become. Gently, he slid the ring off of her finger and took her left hand from his cheek. Buffy watched as he turned the ring so that the heart faced her and then he placed it on her ring finger.

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, the meaning of what had just transpired between them sinking in, and then Angel crushed her into his strong arms, his mouth taking hers like a man possessed. Their kiss was like a bolt of electricity, shooting through them and scorching them to the bone.

His heart beat wildly against her chest, thrilling her with the sensation. His tears flowed freely, mixing with hers, as he took her lips with a passion that he'd only ever fully realized with her. She was his, finally, his.

"Buffy, I love you." He murmured against her lips as she speared her hands into his hair. "I love you so much."

Her breath was coming out in sobs between their kisses. "Angel, I love you too."

All sense of time was lost as they took their time with each other's lips, letting their hands roam freely in an attempt to memorize every part of one another. It had been years since they'd been together like this, but their hands remembered every dip, every curve as if the parts of each other's bodies were their own.

After a moment Angel broke away, his eyes boring into Buffy's with a love and desire that took her breath away. Her heart fluttered. It looked like Buffy Summers would get one perfect moment in life after all. She was going to get her happy ending.

"Is this really happening?" He whispered, his words mirroring her thoughts.

"Yes. Yes and we deserve it. We've fought long and hard Angel, we've made mistakes and we've made amends. Now, it's done. The battles have been fought and the dust has settled. Now its time for us."

Inclining his head slightly, he leaned in and placed a kiss to her lips with such stunning sweetness that tears began to burn her eyes all over again and she had to squeeze them shut to alleviate the sensation. When she opened them back up, she saw that his were red, shiny and full of love.

"I'm never spending another minute without you." He closed his eyes and started placing gentle kisses to her forehead, her temples. She closed her own eyes and he kissed their damp lids, kissed her cheeks, her nose. When he got back to her lips, his voice was a raw whisper against them. "I want to spend the rest of my mortal life with you. Only you."

With that she passionately took his lips, giving him her answer with the unbridled way that she shared herself with him. She became lost in the sensations of their kiss, lost in the feel of his lips brushing hers, his tongue flicking sensuously against her own.

She'd been so wrapped up in him that she hadn't realized they were moving toward the bed until she bumped it with the her legs. Angel pulled away from her long enough to drag his shirt up over his head and watch with anticipation as she followed suit.

Her body was lean and strong, just as he'd remembered it in his dreams. He reached out to gently cup her breast through the silken fabric of the light blue bra that she wore, loving the moan that came from her as she let her head fall back.

Suddenly, he couldn't stand even that small barrier standing between him and her flesh and he reached around her back to take off her bra, his fingers fumbling clumsily in his haste for a moment with the clasp until it worked free and he was able to slide it down her arms until it hit the floor. The cool air against her exposed breasts caused her nipples to harden, which Angel took to his full advantage as he brushed his thumbs across them before he took them in his hands.

Dear God, she felt good. Since becoming mortal, everything had intensified. Smells were stronger, food had more taste, lights were brighter, noises were louder. This was no exception. His body thrilled at wave after wave of sensation as they hit him with full force, making him wonder just how much he would be able to take all at once.

His heart thrashed wildly in his chest as she ran her hands over his exposed flesh, trails of liquid fire following in their wake. He felt slightly dizzy as she alternated between running her palms flat across his skin and lightly dragging her nails across it, making goose flesh pop up and a low moan escape his lips.

Leaning forward, Buffy found his nipple and teased it with her teeth, making him suck air in so fast that it burned his lungs. He fisted his hands gently into her hair and kissed the top of her head, feeling both tortured and impossibly aroused all at once. She ran her nails softly up and down his back until she felt him tremble and then she moved to his other nipple, licking a hot trail with her tongue all the way there. The groan that she felt against the top of her head sent a ripple of satisfaction through her at the thought that she pleased him so much.

When he could take no more, Angel untangled his hands from her hair so he could take her face in them instead. He lowered his mouth to hers, took it tenderly. "I want you so badly. If I don't make love to you right now I'm going to die."

Buffy wrapped her arms around his waist as she nipped his swollen lower lip with her teeth. "We wouldn't want that, you've only just come back to life."

A soft smile spread out on his lips as he reached down to unbutton her jeans and take down the zipper, his eyes never leaving hers. She felt like she was being burned alive by the heat in his gaze, but she couldn't look away. The love and passion and desire that she saw there was swallowing her whole and she found that all she was capable of doing was going to work on his clothes in kind.

When they'd finally peeled their remaining clothing off they stood naked before each other. Angel touched her everywhere, his large hands running across every inch of exposed flesh as he lightly brushed his lips across hers over and over again.

His eyes were half lidded with passion as he wordlessly began to lean into her until she had to lie back on the bed. Lying over top of her, he held himself up on his elbow, his legs intertwined with hers. He stared into her eyes, stroking her hair while he lifted one of her hands, pressing it to the center of his chest.

Buffy took the hand that had been stroking her hair and mimicked his action, placing it between her breasts. They lay there for a few moments, their eyes locked, as they felt their hearts beating in synch. Another of Angel's tears fell, landing hot and wet on Buffy's skin. She reached up with her free hand and ran her thumb under his eyes, wiping away the moisture, then pulled his head down to sweetly take his lips. She wrapped her arms around him as she felt him move his arms under her shoulders, pulling her tight.

There was only one way for their bodies to get any closer, and when he felt her open beneath him, open for him, he pulled his head back just far enough to watch her as he fused them together into one flesh, finally taking what was truly his.

He lowered his forehead to hers as he lay still within her, the moment so monumental for him that he dare not move or it would disappear as a figment of his imagination. Buffy couldn't contain her need and began to move her hips the barest bit, making his breath come out as a sob at the sensation.

Being unable to contain it any more, he followed her lead, moving with her in a slow rhythm that seemed to build a fire in his belly with every undulation. She wrapped her slim legs around his waist and he reached one arm back to take her leg under the knee, deepening the angle. Her moan of satisfaction told him that he felt as good to her as she felt to him and he picked up intensity, his thrusts growing deeper.

Sweat glistened on their skin as he took her mouth again, this time hungrily filling it with his tongue as he felt her dig her nails painlessly into his shoulders. She matched his intensity, as she always had. It had never been like this with anyone but her, this slow heat that burned so hot it threatened to consume them whole if they lost control. It was the total package with them, complete because aside from desire, he was hopelessly in love with her.

He could feel her gathering beneath him, building toward completion and he had to clench his jaw in concentration to hold back until he felt the first shudders around where he fused to her. She cried out on a sob as he continued to move with her climax, only letting himself follow when he was sure she'd ridden the crest of pleasure to its fullest.

As he let go, his vision went impossibly bright and he felt as if he'd gone temporarily blind. Vaguely, he could hear his own voice grind out her name in a strained gasp, then he was lost in the moment, living in a place where peace and love and pleasure and satisfaction all resided together.

When he came back to himself, he became aware of her looking up at him, into his eyes. Their breath was labored as they stared their fill, looking into each other's souls.

"You're mine. You're mine." He whispered over and over, disbelief dancing through his eyes at the knowledge that the rug really wasn't going to get yanked out from under them this time.

Buffy smiled lazily, her hand coming up to lovingly cup his cheek. "And you're mine."

They slept naked in each other's arms that night, never letting each other go and as one day turned into the next and one adventure rolled into another, they never left each other's arms for the rest of their mortal lives.

(Grrr Arggg.)


End file.
